The document discusses storytelling as a way to communicate a software product idea. It suggests focusing on telling your startup's story externally to present the software and internally as a "software plot" for focus and motivation. Storytelling can help establish context for the product and give coherence, rather than focusing on features or unique selling propositions. Examples are given of how companies like TOMS Shoes, Balsamiq, and Licorize effectively used storytelling in their marketing.

1. Story tell your (software) product By PietroPolsinelli Twitter: @ppolsinelli Blog: http://pietro.open-lab.com E-mail: ppolsinelli@open-lab.com

2. Who am I I have been working in software development for too long. I’ve been working on software startups and software marketing since 2008. I don’t have any great marketing success in my portfolio, but I have at least one total failure – which means I have some experience. You can see practically everything relevant I’ve done on my blogs and (3) Twitter streams – main is @ppolsinelli. Here I am just trying to create an opportunity for starting a kind of work and research. Not supplying “solutions”. 2 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

3. Learn, learn, learn In the process of learning that characterizes a lively startup, there are sensitivities to be acquired, which may be immature if coming from custom development, e.g. Design UI Public testing Public image “Public Relations”“PR is the most underused resource in the world.” Barbara Corcoran http://mixergy.com/barbara-corcoran-shark-interview/ Customer relationship and support 3 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

4. Use creativity to replace budgets To maintain “percolation” (see later) and diffusion is a continuous battle. That is why being a startup as a side project does not work. You need full time dedication: new ideas, experiment and flexibility are the only thing that can beat budgets. 4 Wednesday, June 22, 2011

5. What will we do today The question we will work on is this: How to communicate your product idea? This is a basic and most important question for a startup, and it’s never too soon to think about it. Most marketing texts, meetings and experts are focused on communication problems of large companies and institutions, i.e. those that pay them as consultants. But (luckily) there are startups: who thinks about startup communication? And startups desperately need communication. 5 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

6. What will we do today Storytelling can be applied externally to present your software, but also internally as a software plot, for focus and motivation - in case of a large company, but also in a startup. Here we focus on the external kind of storytelling application. So “who are you”? “Startuppers” is a wide sense. You may be a project manager in an enterprise whom has to start a new large project. 6 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

7. Storytelling is so popular… But its not actually storytelling in itself that is popular, its “storytelling for…”. That is, writing and telling stories for ends which are not literary. This comes from the fact that there are more definite and precise techniques for storytelling – at least, this is a diffuse belief. Narrative techniques can be acquired with a lot of exercise, developing a specific sensitivity 7 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

8. Can tell with infographics 8 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

9. What will we do today We will deal with the question “How to communicate your product idea?”by answering (briefly) how to communicate and (at length) what to communicate. 9 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

10. What will we do today One of the aims of the workshop is to help startuppers describe their product using a terminology closer to an emotional model of the user. 10 Story tell your (Software) product Wednesday, June 22, 2011

11. After today A booklet of links for this workshop: http://bit.ly/storyTell Marketing Ziggurat: http://bit.ly/mziggu A rich resource: http://twitter.com/#!/storytellin If you are a software developer – why not take a creative writing course? If my thesis is correct, this will be more useful than any traditional marketing course. 11 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

12. After today: marketing 12 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A. Moore Tribes by Seth Godin

13. First exercise Write on paper what you will say if I’d ask you to present yourself to this group. Write on another paper your product / service idea – how you would present it in a few sentences. 13 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

14. Startups’ evolving communication needs: the marketing ziggurat

15. Percolating Ziggurat 15 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

16. The model People at a step are a set of potential customers who have a common set of needs or wants or potential to have new similar needs that reference each other when making a try / buy decision. (Adapted from “Crossing the Chasm”) 16 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

17. Entering the ziggurat What is the top of the ziggurat composed of? How do you enter the top of the ziggurat? 17 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

18. Entering the ziggurat Start a blog A tweet channel A page on Facebook Tell your friends Talk about it at a local event like this 18 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

19. Entering the ziggurat What I described in the previous slide… DOES NOT WORK* * Unless a miracle... What you need is… 19 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

20. Entering the ziggurat “That's the press, baby, the press. And there is nothing you can do about it.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgdE-qPv6kw You need to TALK WITH THE PRESS 20 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

21. Entering the ziggurat Seems obvious – for many its not so. The press- its scary. Win the fear and write. 21 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

22. Entering the ziggurat Fearful because it is (a second) reality check. Examples from my experience: Bugsvoice –> Fail Patapage –> Fail Licorize –> Passed 22 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

23. And what IS the press? A blog with 5000 loyal followers in a field connected to what you dealing with can be more effective than a little blurb on Wired. 23 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

24. Build a marketing story for the pressWriting to the press is OK, but write about what?

25. Marketing stories “Potential customers cannot buy what they cannot name” Journalists cannot write about something that has no novelty: you’ve got to serve them the concepts, the story, the novelty. A new feature is not a novelty. 25 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

26. Marketing stories “Most people resist selling but enjoy buying”. If you manage to define the buy situation, victory is in your hands. We’ll get back to this later. 26 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

27. Listing features vs. telling stories

28. The USP approach I here give a first negative definition of my approach, by contrasting with some existing marketing habits. The Unique Selling Proposition (a.k.a. Unique Selling Point, or USP) is a marketing concept that was first proposed as a theory to explain a pattern among successful advertising campaigns of the early 1940s. It states that such campaigns made unique propositions to the customer and that this convinced them to switch brands. Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unique_selling_proposition 28 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

29. The USP approach USP is like classical economics: assumes perfect information and rational choices. Users are neither informed nor rational. This fragmented approach does not help users in getting their insight. Lacking a unified anthropological model of and for the user, this will not work. Marketing recipes draw a simplistic picture of the marketing project. A USP tends to obscure your real motivations, your agenda. A purely functional description will leave out what is most interesting. This also shows that deep limitations of AdWords based approaches: you story is missed, you can’t do a contextual presentation. 29 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

30. Rational choice models A few years ago, we had a brief discussion about the power of ads. A friend of mine was skeptic about that, he stubbornly held that ads had no effect on him. This is an example of illuministic optimism which is factually false. How wrong this belief is is shown by data from many possible fields (next slide). What matters for us is that this kind of wrong modeling of human behavior leads to wrong marketing models: models based on the rational choice idea. 30 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

31. Learn more The political mind, A Cognitive Scientist's Guide to Your Brain and Its Politics , George Lakoff Idea Framing, Metaphors, and Your Brain - George Lakoff http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_CWBjyIERY 31 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

32. Establish the context You should not talk in terms of differences with the competition (this too is a mistake which several marketing “experts” make). This is the traditional mistake of political weak candidates. Your point is to tell a completely different story. Obama stopped saying “Bush is doing this and that” He started saying: “This is MY story. This is a NEW story.” Story mark: by telling a good story, its you establishing the context. this way you can win in the most unlikely situationsBy fighting on features, you are adapting to a context where its the others setting the context -> you are going to lose. 32 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

33. The storytelling approach You are bringing a ship across a hill in the jungle: your effort *deserves to be told*. You product is a free creation, shaped from the learnings you can get from early shipping. The basic point of this marketing technique is simply to tell the truth, and bring it across in its subtlety and complexity. It’s useful if what you are saying is not trivial, if there are ideas to be expressed. Articulating your proposal in a story instead of a USP is much more conductive to express it integrally. The MBA typical idea of “competitive advantage” results empty for this perspective. The union of story and execution is no single competitive advantage. 33 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

34. Coherence Having a story gives you a sense of coherence, will also make you stronger against the 2% of skeptics. Alienating the 2% http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/11/alienating-the-2.html 34 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

35. Learning from “classical” storytelling The first point is NOT saying clearly (for you) what you provide, and neither to talk about users’ advantages. The first point is getting attention and start telling YOUR STORY. 35 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

36. Using stories

37. Unifying power of storytelling Your aim is to create an opportunity for a “magic” meeting of needs, tastes, choices. You are facilitating it, but you are not the cause. Unifying power of the storytelling approach: if you defined your story, this gives unity to the expression of your idea in different media (see Licorize in the examples). Once you have a story, it becomes easier and more interesting to write articulated connections. And to write other, connected stories touching other fields. 37 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

38. Unifying power of storytelling You may articulate your idea through many media and means: blog post home page of your site Podcast Video Mockumentary Cards e-book ipadapp iphoneapp generic mobile app Tweets facebook etc. 38 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

39. Unifying power of storytelling USP get old fast: stories don’t. Storytelling supports seriality: it is a wonderful way to put criticism and failures to our use. Like Balsamiq failed release -> visibility and positive remarks. Berlusconi prostitutes -> that’s how I am -> hero’s flaw, adds to heroicity. 39 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

40. Storytelling schemes

41. Consumer’s fatal flaw Reading and knowing your audience fatal flaw is the first step in building any marketing strategy. 41 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

42. Existential myths The myth of “salvation” Myth of “cure” Myth of “evasion” 42 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

43. Themes for the existential myths Cure/protection rhetoric Power/possession rhetoric Exploration/curiosity rhetoric Auto confirmation/self-celebration rhetoric Negotiation/projectuality rhetoric 43 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

44. Base schema for product narration 44 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

45. Gossip stories are a GREAT way to see the basic schemes in action (read Barthes’ Mythologies) 45 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

46. Examples

47. TOMS Shoes All the details together tell a unique and coherent story. You won’t forget this site. http://www.toms.com/our-movement 47 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

48. Balsamiq - http://balsamiq.com The reason for success for a long time escaped me - yes, he told an interesting story of the startup trip but that is not the key. What/where is the narrative? Which is the fatal flaw? 48 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

49. Balsamiq Fatal flaw: prototyping is hard, and a great source of conflict. More detailed it is, more likely it is to generate conflict. -> Smooth corners: a tool that is easy to use as play, and does not go much beyond play (though it is very useful). 49 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

50. Balsamiq Messages: “We are not working, we are playing” “The prototype is not definitive” 50 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

51. Balsamiq Messages: “How can you not love this Winnie-the-Pooh like mockup?” The tone of communication is “back to draw like when you were a child”. Gets tons of tweet “loving this”. It is a communication strategy built-in the product. 51 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

52. Licorize: our stories I've read I don't know how many times this reaction to Licorize on Twitter: "this is exactly the product I was looking for!” This anthropological fit is actually also a construction, a construction of Licorize' storytelling. The perfect fit is felt because the story works, the identification works. Of course just a good story without a high quality product and design would not make it. 52 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

53. Licorize: our stories We did alienate the 2%: the very first reactions were very bad. Negative review, lacking USP, unclear … . How I reacted? I did nothing. I changed nothing. But soon, very soon, the voice that really matters – people, many people, appreciated it. The comfort of numbers, and the comfort of competent reviewers. The first 2% is not the real press. The press: they don’t react using their Lizard Brain. They look carefully – trust them. We didn’t do permission marketing. We had a story and the press (which today does not mean paper press) took it and talked about it. 53 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

54. Licorize: our stories 54 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

55. Theme Major: Auto-confirmation Myth its more “salvation” than “evasion”. But introducing playfulness gives hope to work, seen as oppressive – this is the fatal flaw. Minor: Design -> seduction Exploration 55 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

56. Did work: Licorize Result: 50 positive reviews (by meaningful sites) in 90 days, thousands of tweets. And they both keep coming. Reviewers fell in love with the story – which we had written for them. Also a bit of luck helped – Delicious crisis. 56 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

57. Multiple entry points Multiple stories and media: Curation, GTD, e-books, info overflow Video 1 minute Instructional detailed videos User guide 100 pages Examples usage in the application 57 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

58. What is the morale of the (story) product? Licorize: no bookmark is an island. 37'signals Basecamp: people have now an online life and need very simple management. Most products have no clear morale. 58 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

59. Licorize: other’ stories http://licorize.com/projects/ppolsinelli/blogBookmarks/licorizeBuzz 59 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

60. Stout: his story 60 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product http://thestoutgames.com/:DinnerDate

61. Stout: other’s stories http://licorize.com/projects/ppolsinelli/blogBookmarks/dinner%20date 61 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

62. Learning to write tell

63. Can’t help you, sorry – help yourself This is not the topic of this workshop, but it is a skill that is assumed. It can be learned. Literary skills can be acquired: Jeff Atwood, How to Write Without Writing Over the last 6 years, I've come to believe deeply in the idea that that becoming a great programmer has very little to do with programming. Yes, it takes a modicum of technical skill and dogged persistence, absolutely. But even more than that, it takes serious communication skills: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2011/02/how-to-write-without-writing.html 63 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

64. Limits of this approach Requires a considerable and prolonged effort. Once started, very hard to change techniques. 64 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

65. Exercises

66. Base schema for product narration 66 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

67. Exercise: The product is a story Which story does you product tell? Is it heroic, moving, a thriller, noir? A redemption story or a apprenticeship one? A lucky intuition or a hard earned success? Try to guess the kind of story that you’d like to tell through your product and select its essential roles. Which kind of story would you like to tell? What or whom does it involve? Which problem or need it must solve / fulfill? What or who is the opponent? Which trials it must pass? Who is helping and who is hampering? How do we know the target has been reached? Which other characters appear? Compose all this elements in a story: [write write write] 67 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

68. Exercise: Opponents and needs Who are your opponents and competitors? Which is the need you are fulfilling? Which is the deficiency you are fulfilling? The desire you satisfy? The problems you meet? For each of the above create a character, then try to take their point of view and tell the story: [write write write] 68 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

69. 69 Re work on your initial textsRemember to think about the fatal flaw and the biographical moment of the audience.

70. Classical elevator pitch – by Amy Jo Kim 70 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

71. Story told elevator pitch and more Re-write your elevator pitch as a brief story. Write e-mail for a reviewer. 71 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

72. Discuss results

73. Sparse practical hints

74. How startups can learn to pitch the press http://pietro.open-lab.com/2011/04/08/how-startups-can-learn-to-pitch-the-press/ Some mistakes Brad lists: the 1000 word e-mail lack of a story pitching on Mondays 74 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

75. Permission marketing and more You can use your story based product & marketing core to do both permission marketing and also more traditional, press/blog based marketing. 75 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

76. Story for the second step “Resistance from inertia can come from commitment to status quo, fear of risk, lack of a compelling reason to buy.” Again the story idea can help you out of this. Maybe a new story. With a story you can also define the contest of your competition. By telling a good story, its you establishing the context. 76 Wednesday, June 22, 2011

77. Story for the second step You have to distinguish: actions that increase (or create) conversion actions that keep you visible - though the two things are not completely separate 77 Wednesday, June 22, 2011

78. Down the ziggurat Howto appeal tonon-technologists? The story, amplified and enrichedby the press, will help a lot, because a wide spectrumof people can understandit. A featurebasedapproachherewillnot help, instead, and thisislikelyoneof the causesoffailureto cross. The powerof “word ofmouth” hasbeengreatlyextendedby “word ofTwitter”. 78 Wednesday, June 22, 2011

79. More… Stratify your message: gossip is not the only frontier of knowledge Stories are powerful, can be manipulative or educational You have to understand the target’s biographic moment and area: taking care. It is most important to do the analysis in terms of expense propensity of the target Create a presskit page on your site pointing explicitly to the different stories. 79 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product

80. Image attributions Photo "Day 135" by pasukaru76http://www.flickr.com/photos/pasukaru76/4206297395/in/photostream/ Red and Wolf from Hoodwinkedhttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443536/ Images from Balsamiq http://balsamiq.com site. Screenshots from http://thestoutgames.com/:DinnerDate http://www.toms.com/our-movement http://gawker.com 80 Wednesday, June 22, 2011 Story tell your (Software) product